by KJ Dahlen
“You have one choice to make at the moment,” Turnkey told her. “Just know whatever you decide will determine whether everyone inside will fight and possibly lose their lives tonight or if only one of you loses her life.”
“What do you want?” she whispered.
“You left Moses’ compound before you paid your dues for living there for thirteen years.” Wagging his finger back and forth, he told her, “There is a price to pay for that. At this moment, that price is your life for theirs. If you come with me on your own, I’ll talk my brother into accepting you instead of taking them on. You will in a sense, stop war tonight. One life for twenty or thirty men. Think about it. Your blood or theirs. But don’t think too long. Moses isn’t a patient man and he’ll be here soon.”
Nix turned her head and stared at the clubhouse. “Give me your word of honor that they won’t be touched and I’ll come with you. I’ll go back to Moses’ compound as long as no one dies tonight.” Her tears ran down her face as she made a devil’s bargain with his right-hand man.
Turnkey sneered at her choice of words. Words that didn’t mean a fucking thing to him. His promises meant even less. Once he had her, he didn’t care what Moses did with the rest of them. He would make her watch while Moses and his men cut them down. She could witness their senseless deaths and know there was nothing she could have done to prevent it from happening.
“Come to me now,” he ordered.
Nix glanced back to the clubhouse one last time before she took the steps needed to join him. She climbed the fence and dropped down on the other side.
Turnkey grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her quickly into the tree line.
She stumbled and would have fallen but he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back up to her feet. “Don’t be a fucking fool. If they come running, you’ll be the first one to die.”
Nix nodded her head but didn’t say anything. Instead, she sobbed all the way into the woods.
Wiley was still sitting at the table while Bam Bam read Nix’s mother’s diary. He knew Nix needed some time to herself and he was trying to give her just that. He didn’t like it but he was trying.
Then he frowned as he heard something scratching at a door down the hall. He got to his feet and with his heart racing, he headed down the hall. When he got to the door to his bedroom, he knew what the sound was. He opened the door and Shadow shot out of the room. He sniffed the floor in front of the door and then took off barking down the hall to the back door.
“Fucking hell!” Wiley swore. He turned to the main room and bellowed Deke’s name.
When everyone showed up, he pointed to Shadow. “Something ain’t right. I think Nix went for a walk without protection. I thought she went to my room.”
“Lord have mercy,” Gator whispered. “Let the dog outside, maybe he can find her quicker than we can.”
Wiley grabbed his weapon from the back of his pants and stomped his way down the hall. He opened the door.
Shadow zipped out the door and down the fence line. He paused here and there and then began to growl at one place.
Everyone joined him and they all began looking around the area. That’s when they all heard the sounds of motorcycles in the distance. “Son of a bitch!” Wiley seethed.
“What’s wrong?” Deke shouted out.
“That’s fucking Turnkey and his pals. They ride Kawasaki’s, I’d recognize that drizzly whine anywhere. They got her man. They took Nix and he has no love for her. We either find her quickly or she’d dead.”
“Wait just a minute here.” Bam Bam held up his hand. “Turnkey isn’t gonna hurt her yet. He needs to turn her over to Moses.”
“Moses may be here already for all we know,” Grizzly assured the other men. “If he’s here, they are probably setting us up and leading us right into an ambush.”
Wiley stepped up and got right in Grizzly’s face. “I will not stand around with my thumb up my ass and wait while that bastard has my woman.” He leaned in closer. “I ain’t stopping you though, please take your time in deciding what the fuck you’re going to do but I’m going after her.”
Deke stepped up and parted the two of them. “Take a break, we need everyone on the same page here. Wiley, I know you want to go after them but you need to take a breath here. We do have ways of finding someone when we need to. We need to think about this before we go barging in where we could get ourselves killed.”
Wiley stared at his President for a moment. “You don’t understand boss. She threatened to leave me last night if it was the only way to save everyone’s life here.”
“What?” Deke frowned.
“She thought if she wasn’t here that Moses would follow her instead of going to war with us,” Wiley explained. “She thought if she wasn’t here, there would be no war and no one would get hurt. She escaped from him before and she probably thinks she can do it again.”
“But that’s insane,” Sam protested. “Moses is just looking for a place to start a war. For some odd reason, he wants to wipe out Bam Bam’s entire family. She can’t stop that.”
“She thinks she can and she would do anything, even going back if she thought it would help to avoid bloodshed,” Wiley told them all.
Deke grabbed his phone .“Ok, here’s what we’re going to do, first off we get ready for a fucking war. If Moses isn’t here yet, he soon will be. Then we get our own posse working for us. We get ourselves out there looking for them. Then we take this war right to their own fucking front door. We don’t wait for them to get settled in. We go after them and catch them unaware.” He called in Amos and the guys. He gave them the lowdown and then they all turned as a group and went back to the clubhouse.
Once there, they immediately broke out their weapons and got ready for the coming war.
Half an hour later, Deke received a phone call from Amos. He knew where Moses and his boys were heading to set up an ambush.
Deke began the calling tree as he gathered his people and families inside the compound. Within the hour, everyone was home and Deke had given the orders to lock the place down behind them. The women of the MC didn’t like it but they kept their opinions to themselves. There was nothing they could say to stop what was coming, instead they all prayed silently that their men would come home to them.
When the last bike headed out of the gate and it was slammed shut, Cassie, Reva, Peaches, and all the other wives stared into the growing darkness with tears in their eyes.
The people of Troy stood and watched as the bikes rode past them. As the sound of the group in mass rode past, people came out of their homes to watch as they drove through the city. More than one of the citizens gave themselves the cross of the Holy Church. Seventy men strong made their way through the streets of their city.
Deke and Bam Bam rode side by side. When they got to the field Amos had told them about they saw their opponent waiting there for them. One thing they took the time to notice was the fact that Moses’ men numbered far fewer than their own and some of them were still arriving.
Both men knew theses dumbasses hadn’t had time to form a plan and that suited Deke and Bam Bam just fine. Deke revved his engine and waited for his men to catch on. Bam Bam did the same thing. They had to strike while the chances were on their side. They both knew that Moses had to have had a seventeen hour road trip on his side and his men would be tired... they hoped that would slow them down.
Deke and Bam Bam we at least rested and ready for this battle.
Bam Bam looked over at Deke and slowly raised his hand in the air. Holding up three fingers, he began the countdown to one.
His men yelled and screamed and their bikes shot forward.
Soon, the sound of gunfire broke the whine of the engines and the battle was under way.
Turnkey smiled as he heard the sounds from outside. Nix was standing there with him. Her hands were tied behind her back and she was already sporting a bruise or two.
When she heard the sound of so many bikes, she raised
her head and glared at him. “You fucking lied to me didn’t you?” she screamed in order to make herself heard.
Turnkey shrugged his shoulders. “What the fuck do I care if they want to kill themselves? It’s no skin off my nose and I got you out of the bargain.”
Glaring at him, she started to run toward him.
He lifted his bat and swung it. The bat caught her left shoulder and she went down hard, screaming in agony.
“Now bitch, don’t become a martyr for something you can’t change.” He mocked her. He knew no one could hear her screams over the noise from outside so he swung his bat again and again. He was about to bring it down on the back of her head when the door shot open and the sound of a bike riding into the barn echoed. Drowning out the sounds of the battle outside, a shot rang out close to him.
Turnkey screamed and dropped the bat as he grabbed his shoulder. Blood poured over his fingers and he closed his eyes against the pain. “What the everlovin fuck?” he screamed as he turned his head to see his brother join them. “You fuckin shot me?” he shouted at his brother.
“Yeah, you damn fool. I fucking shot you,” Moses yelled at the other man. “We need her alive at least for a little while longer. I want to see Bam Bam’s face when he watches his daughter die.”
Turnkey leaned into his face and snarled, “You know that story grandpa told us about taking the first strike against Greg Matthias? Remember he told us he killed Greg and it would be our job to take Bam Bam out? He fucking lied to us.”
“What are you talking about?” Moses snarled at his brother.
“Greg Matthias might still be alive. As far as I know, Bam Bam doesn’t have an older brother but I saw a man that looked like he could be his dad,” Turnkey stated. Still grabbing his shoulder he looked down at Nix and reached out lifting his foot, he kicked at her.
Moses pushed his brother away and growled. “Well fucking hell!”
Chapter Ten
Moses dragged her deeper into the old barn. Nix could hardly move at this point. Her whole body hurt from the beating she took from Turnkey and his fucking bat. She knew if Moses hadn’t stopped him, he would have killed her this time.
The battle these three MC’s had fought had sounded terrible. The streets of Troy had gotten bloody tonight. She prayed most of the casualties had been the Hellions but there was no way she could see the battle from where she was laying. Although some of the Sin’s Bastards and the Hell’s Wrath would go down, she prayed they wouldn’t be killed outright.
Before Turnkey had struck her the first time she’d seen her father and her boyfriend fighting side by side. Then she hadn’t seen anything as Turnkey swung that dammed bat and then lights out.
She had come too long enough to know he’d taken the bat to her ribs, her back and her legs until Moses stopped him with a bullet to his shoulder. They had been screaming at each other and Moses had shouted that he wasn’t supposed to kill her yet.
Moses wanted her to hang for her crimes. He bragged about how he was going to wipe out Stone’s entire family in one swoop, finally getting the revenge for their father.
Turnkey turned on his brother and snarled, “You fuckin idiot!” He screamed.
“I’m the idiot?” Moses shouted back. “You and that fucking bat almost robbed us of the pleasure of watching Stone’s face when the last of his family dies in front of him. That’s what Grandpa always said he wanted to see happen. Our old man never should have ended up in prison and never would have if his best friend Greg hadn’t testified against him. Our father died in that hell hole when he should have been at home raising us. Have you forgotten that brother?”
“No I haven’t forgotten that. But that was almost a lifetime ago.” Turnkey snarled. “You allowed his wife to live thirteen years longer than she really needed to. You allowed his daughter to be born. You allowed her to grow up untouched, then escape leading us all on a merry chase. All without telling him, what you really wanted from him. Why the hell didn’t you just shoot the motherfucker when you had the chance?”
Moses walked over to his bike and he lifted the seat showing a cargo hold. He opened it and revealed that inside were tons of pictures. “I wanted to give him the chance to see the life he sentenced his wife and daughter too when he turned and walked away from them that day in Phoenix. Did you really think I fucking cared about her? Every fucking time I had to kiss her, I wanted to puke but I held up my end. I wanted to see the look in his eyes when he saw us together. I wanted to see the desire in his eyes turn to dust just like I watched our mother’s love for our dad die slowly until the light in her eyes died altogether. I have to admit when she came to me and told me she might be pregnant with Stone’s baby, I thought long and hard about what I was going to do about it. Then I decided that I wanted the baby to be born. I could use the fact it was out there in the world to drive my position to that fucker home even harder. I should have told him sooner he had a kid somewhere living the life of a homeless person because of him. He would never know if she was eating garbage to survive or selling her young body to have a roof over her head or maybe she was killing herself every day by taking the path of her mother and shooting shit into her arm just to forget the mistakes she made.”
“You know they are coming after us, don’t you?” Turnkey began to pace. He was in a lot of pain due to his injury and the threat waiting for them wasn’t helping his state of mind.
“I’m betting on it.” Moses grinned.
“What do you have in mind?” Turnkey turned to his brother.
“If I have to die to tonight, I’m taking her with me,” Moses told him. “I’ll drag his soul right to hell with me. I’ll leave him a broken man, praying for death.”
“That’s all good and everything but it only gets you dead,” Turnkey stated.
“If I can’t send him to hell with me then I’ll be there moments before he arrives to welcome him. If I can’t get him, I want you to take him out.”
“And just how am I supposed to do that?” Turnkey argued.
Moses pointed up to the old hayloft. “You’ll be up there waiting for him with a rifle. If he manages to kill me, you drop his ass. I want you to blow his fucking head right off his shoulders.”
“Maybe you should have told me that before you fucking put a bullet in my shoulder then huh?” Turnkey bitched. “I don’t know if I can shoot a rifle or not at the moment.”
“You just get up there and wait for the bastard, you big pussy.” Moses growled. “But before you do that, help me set the girl up. I have a feeling her dad isn’t too far behind us.”
Nix tried to fight them off but she couldn’t. She was too sore and she was almost sure her rib was broken. She couldn’t hardly breathe. They got her to her feet and they dragged her over to a stool. Getting her to stand up was a feat all its own. Then Moses put a noose around her throat while Turnkey tied the rope to the main beam behind her.
Moses drew the rope tight and Nix was forced to stay upright. Her body screamed as she fought again her restraints. Tears rolled down her face as she glared at the two men. “You two are going to die tonight I hope you—know that,” she whispered brokenly as the rope threatened to choke her.
“Probably, but I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you died by my hand first,” Moses grumbled. “I never should have let you be born.” He motioned for his brother to get up into the loft and wait for the show to start.
Turnkey slowly climbed the ladder cursing and muttering the whole time. He finally got to the loft and disappeared over the edge.
“Tell me something asshole,” Nix could barely speak now but she had to know. “Did my mother ever love me? She once told me she named me Phoenix because that was the place she made her biggest mistake. Was I her mistake?”
Moses threw his head back and laughed. “No bitch, her mistake was believing that I loved her. I hated her but I needed her to destroy your father. When he turned his back on her and walked away, she thought I was offering her something better, inst
ead she got something so much worse. Instead of becoming my old lady, she was nothing more than a whore for the whole club.” He nodded. “Phoenix was her biggest mistake, she traded your dad for our club. One man who cared for her for a whole club that loathed her.”
Nix’s heart broke for the woman who gave her life. “Why didn’t she ever tell me his name?” she desperately wanted to know.
“I told her the day you were born, to forget him. I reminded her that he walked away from her months before and if she didn’t want to witness me bashing your head in, she’d better learn her place and thinking about her ex was not her place. I told her if she ignored her duties for you, I’d take away her reason. She knew I was serious the day I broke your arm. You were only a few months old but we both heard the snap of your bone that day.”
Nix didn’t remember that day at all but she did remember her mother rubbing her arm when it ached during the bad weather. She didn’t know why but her rubbing had helped. Now she knew why her arm would ache so much. “Why didn’t you just kill him when you could?”
“Because I wanted him to know about everything he would give up. He might not give a shit about Milly but I knew he would give a rat’s ass about you. I just had to get you to an age where bargaining would be worth it. I was going to set him up the day after your mom died but you took off on me. I had to get you back in order to make my plan work.”
“And you could never find me,” she finished his thought.
“No I could never find you. But I’ve found you now haven’t I?” he quipped. “Now I can set the fucker up and get rid of you at the same time. But not yet. I can’t kill you yet. Your dad needs to be here first. I want to see the life drain from his eyes knowing you are dead before my brother takes his head off.”
“We found out about your father and what he did,” she tried to tell him. The rope was tightening on her throat. “He deserved to go to prison for what he did.”